It has become apparent in recent years that the consumer market relating to toiletry items has resulted in the development of a number of time saving devices which are intended for ease of use. For example, the shaving industry has developed improved razors which permit the changing of the blade assembly by simply providing a cartridge containing either a single or a double razor edge which is replaceable on a handle assembly by simply ejecting one cartridge and inserting a new cartridge. Generally, developments in this art field have been evolved as a result of the desire for compactness and ease of use.
In connection with the concern for dental hygiene, it is fairly commonplace that a toothbrush is employed by only the owner thereof in order to insure that germs and other diseases not be transmitted from one person to another. In view of the fact that a toothbrush is an item which is employed only by the owner thereof, it has been proposed that toothbrush assemblies be developed which incorporate a cartridge assembly of some sort which would be manufactured as a preformed and prefilled toothpaste cartridge, and which would be insertable within the toothbrush provided with an ejector mechanism of some kind such that the toothpaste may easily be ejected from the cartridge into the bristle portion of the brush. In this manner, a compact and easy to use toothbrush assembly would be provided to the consuming public.
There have been a number of such proposed toothbrush assemblies in the prior art, however, none of these assemblies has had much commercial success. In most instances, such devices have been known to be cumbersome, or alternatively, have been constructed in such a manner as to require a plurality of pieces and parts thereby increasing the manufacturing costs and hence, removing the item from the easy reach of the consuming public from a cost standpoint. Hence, none of the prior devices has achieved any degree of commercial success.
For example, it will be observed that in U.S. Pat. No. 2,717,101, a paste type dentifrice dispensing toothbrush assembly is illustrated. As shown therein, the toothbrush is generally provided with a head portion which accommodates a screw threaded cartridge containing the dentifrice paste. A pusher assembly is provided to eject toothpaste from the cartridge through an opening therein, into an opening provided in the bristled head of the toothbrush. It is apparent from a review of the drawings as well as the specification on U.S. Pat. No. 2,717,101 that a toothbrush assembly constructed in accordance with the teachings thereof would be somewhat expensive to produce, but the reason that the cartridge requirements are such that the cartridge would have to be formed of a relatively stiff hard plastic since the cartridge itself functions as the handle. It will, therefore, be appreciated that to manufacture preformed and prefilled paste cartridges of this type would be extremely expensive to the ultimate consumer and hence, a toothbrush assembly of the type depicted therein is not a practical device.
Other devices have similarly been proposed such as, for example, the device shown in U.S. Pat. No. 2,612,649. In this device, it is contemplated that a flexible refillable cartridge is employed for containing a quantity of the dentifrice cleaning liquid to be employed by the user. Once again, it is intended that manually operably means are employed in order to eject fluid from the cartridge into the brush. As described therein, the manually operable means comprises a bar which may be manually forced downwardly by means of a pressure knob which extends through the toothbrush handle. Hence, while the ejection is not formed by any reciprocating mechanism, nevertheless, there is an attempt to accomplish the same function by providing an operating or pressure bar. A drawback of the assembly shown in U.S. Pat. No. 2,612,649 is the fact that the dentifrice ejection means which is manually operable will not operate to eject a volume of the dentifrice from the forward end of the cartridge. Hence, the user would end up wasting a considerable amount of dentifrice toothpast which the bar would not be capable of expending from the forward end of the cartridge. Hence, devices of the type depicted therein have similarly not achieved any level of success mainly because such devices are clumsy in design and wasteful in terms of the amount of dentifrice which is incapable of being utilized.
Another form of a toothbrush containing a dispensing chamber as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 2,162,447. Once again, it is intended that a reuseable or refillable type cartridge is to be introduced into a magazine or a chamber within the toothbrush handle wherein an ejection means is provided for ejecting the dentifrice from the cartridge through an opening into the bristle portion of the brush. As further depicted therein, the assembly is provided with a feed nozzle which operates to puncture the membrane of the toothpaste cartridge inserted therein. A compression roller is provided which reciprocates along a slot provided in the handle and operated by means of a thumb grip portion extending outwardly therefrom. The cartridge is insertable within the handle by opening the handle at the pivot point accommodated by the hinge which hinges one portion of the handle to the head section of the toothbrush.
It will be appreciated from the above description that a number of parts are required in order to construct a toothbrush in accordance with the teachings of U.S. Pat. No. 2,162,447. As such, the subject device becomes extremely expensive to manufacture and, therefore, is not practical insofar as a commercial device is concerned. In addition, it would be somewhat difficult from an expense standpoint to form a toothbrush head having a feed nozzle constructed and incorporated therein for the reason that if it is contemplated to construct the toothbrush head out of a plastic material, then a mold would have to be constructed to conform to this structure. This is an extremely difficult structure to incorporate in a mold on any reasonable basis, and hence, overall, the toothbrush assembly as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 2,162,447 would be costly to manufacture.